Sunday, March 22, 2015

The Internecine Project (1974)

After a slow start, the
British thriller The Internecine Project
gains momentum and novelty by presenting a meticulously planned conspiracy. The
tension never quite reaches the high level that it should, characterizations
are a bit half-hearted, and the film’s attempt at generating a romantic subplot
is weak. Nonetheless, the presence of familiar actors in roles that suit their
skills, as well as the heat generated by a couple of genuinely exciting scenes,
make the film worth a look. James Coburn stars as Robert Elliot, an American
spy whose cover is that of a Harvard professor temporarily operating out of
London. When Robert is offered a coveted job as a financial advisor to the U.S.
government, he is told to clean house—in other words, to kill all of the
operatives with knowledge of his espionage activities in Europe, lest their
secrets come back to haunt him while he ascends through public life. To realize
his insidious goals, Robert contrives an elaborate scheme wherein his
operatives are manipulated into killing each other, since each operative is
told that he or she has been entrusted with eliminating the weak link in the
organization.

In theory, this is ingenious stuff—clever and dangerous and
thrilling. In practice, it’s merely okay, because the filmmakers fail to place
believable and significant obstacles in Robert’s path. Barring one crisis
stemming from an operative who temporarily loses his nerve, things go quite
smoothly till the final twist. That said, suspense of a lukewarm sort abounds,
and Coburn gets as much mileage as possible out of inherently repetitive scenes
during which he sits in his lair and waits for signals from his troops. Better
still, some of the vignettes depicting operatives preying upon each other have
real muscle, especially the horrific scenario that unfolds when middle-aged
psychotic Albert (Harry Andrews) attacks glamorous prostitute Christina
(Christian Krüger). Less effective, by far, is the material concerning American
journalist Jean (Lee Grant), who becomes romantically involved with Robert
while all of this murderous business is unfolding. At the beginning of the
picture, director Ken Hughes and the film’s three screenwriters have fun
striking love/hate sparks between Jean and Robert, but then Jean merely becomes
a plot device.

From start to finish, however, good acting and solid production
values compensate for the story’s shortcomings. Coburn had a singular way of
portraying cocksure evildoers, so he’s fun to watch, while costars Andrews,
Grant, Ian Hendry, Krüger, Michael Jayston, and Keenan Wynn add degrees of
humanity and menace as needed.

2 comments:

Made my day to see this, I've been waiting for it. I was surprised at how much I was rooting for Coburn to get away with the whole idea, so for me it made for a very strange thrill ride -- though I appreciate the final twist. (But what if Coburn had been wearing -- nahh.)

Though I agree with your criticisms, I've loved this film since seeing it on BBC1 in the early 90s. The central idea is excellent and, though it's somewhat predictable, I like the ending: it references Scarface, The Mechanic, and it anticipates The Long Good Friday. Good enough for a small, presumably cheap film.